Wednesday, August 16, 2017

I am thrilled to report a picture book idea I had back in late 2015 on cartoonist Charles Schulz of "Peanuts" fame was recently bought by the wonderful publisher/editor, Christy Ottaviano at Henry Holt/Macmillan!!! After 16 years in this business this is truly a dream job and a deeply personal one to me.

Here is the recent announcement in Publishers Weekly and some new character sketches. I also just traveled to Schulz's hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota and spent several days researching his old neighborhoods. Work has begun in earnest with a publishing date of 2019!

Thursday, March 2, 2017

I recently completed a painting for the March/April 2017 issue of Scholastic's Storyworks magazine. It's a charming story about a brother and sister who find pirate treasure on the North Carolina coast. Illustrating for the fine Storyworks magazine is always a pleasure and I enjoyed seeing my work used as a double page spread for them for the first time!

Thursday, February 16, 2017

As a young child I learned to draw better by copying my favorite characters from such popular comics of the day like "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz and "Garfield" by Jim Davis. I have since learned after reading a biography on Schulz that he was also inspired by the comics of his childhood back in the 1920's and 30's.

Luckily my parents kept a lot of my old drawings. The drawing below of Charlie Brown and Snoopy was done when I was around 10 years old in the early 1980's.

Currently I am being considered for a dream project for a wonderful editor and NYC publisher that involves this subject matter. I found a story idea I was excited about and asked a talented and successful writer friend for help, who then wrote an inspiring story for children. Now it's out of our hands and that's also all I can say! I'm sharing this drawing, now over 30 years old in order to send out positive vibes. I will share more later if it's good news!

BORN TO DRAW COMICS IS OUT SOON!

About Me

Is the illustrator of over 20 published books for children including "Born to Draw Comics" and the Charlotte Award and Keystone to Reading Book Award winning title "The Can Man". He has worked on picture books, easy readers, book covers, textbooks, graphic novels, magazines and beyond. Some of his past clients include Henry Holt & Co., Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Highlights and Boy's Life magazines. Craig also teaches children's book illustration and loves to share his books with students during school and library visits.